The main focus of this round is more major changes to quests, with "Advisors" giving more structure on how to play, and new ship stats with the re-introduction of ship-specific ETAs rather than class-specific ETAs.

Goverments, races and ship stats are final.
Buddy Packs are changing back to 5, but alliances remain at 60.

There may be minor tweaks to the text of the quests and other minor enhancements before ticks start.